Chapter 8 - The Secret Roman Had Been Planning for MonthsRoman had purchased an old warehouse on the river.
It had been abandoned for years.
Now it was transformed.
Studios.
Classrooms.
A community kitchen.
A legal clinic.
A scholarship office.
Above the entrance was a name:
The Bennett House.
Sadie stared.
“You did this?”
“We did.”
She shook her head.
“You didn't tell me.”
“It was supposed to be a surprise.”
“Roman.”
He smiled.
“Your grandmother fed people who couldn't pay.”
“My mother survived because someone helped her.”
“You rebuilt your life.”
He looked around.
“So I thought we should build something for other people.”
Sadie cried.
He wrapped his arms around her.
“I love you.”
She smiled through tears.
“I love you too.”
That night, Roman proposed again.
Not because their marriage had been fake.
It hadn't.
He proposed because the first marriage had begun as a contract.
He wanted the second promise to begin with choice.
“I married you because I thought I needed a wife.”
He knelt.
“I stayed because I realized I needed you.”
Sadie covered her mouth.
“I know we're already married.”
He smiled.
“But this time, I want to ask you without contracts.”
He opened the ring box.
“Will you marry me because you choose me?”
She laughed and cried.
“Yes.”
They renewed their vows the following summer.
No business associates.
No political figures.
No cameras.
Just family.
May you like
Friends.
And the people whose lives they had helped change.
